Method and system for transferring software and hardware feature licenses between devices

a technology of software and hardware features, applied in the field of network connection management, can solve the problems of insufficient management scheme of atm networks, inability to connect to atm networks for licensing management, and more difficult problems

Active Publication Date: 2010-05-25
CISCO TECH INC
View PDF13 Cites 12 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This solution minimizes service outages during device failures, reduces the need for costly spare devices with duplicate licenses, and allows for efficient, automated license transfers, reducing human intervention and resource usage, while ensuring secure and flexible management of licenses across multiple devices.

Problems solved by technology

However, one of the problems in managing licensing for network devices is that enforcement of the licenses should be as transparent to the customer as possible.
This problem is more challenging in the domain of carrier class networking products (e.g., ATM switches and routers) where connectivity to the ATM network may not be available for licensing management.
However, this management scheme is inadequate in ATM networks.
This is especially true when the network device fails.
However, several problems exist with this card based model.
This is unsatisfactory as suitable spares outfitted with the same licenses are cost prohibitive since duplicate licenses go unused.
As such, suitable spares with the correct format of licenses are usually unavailable.
The use of technical representatives can be time consuming for a customer who is interested in bringing the new features on-line as soon as possible.
In addition, on the customer service side, this programming of licenses is an inefficient use of human resources.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Method and system for transferring software and hardware feature licenses between devices
  • Method and system for transferring software and hardware feature licenses between devices
  • Method and system for transferring software and hardware feature licenses between devices

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0018]Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a method and system of transferring licenses in a node based licensing scheme between electronic devices that are capable of supporting licensable features, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0019]Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented on software running on a computer system, for example in software contained on a computer readable medium. For instance, the computer system may be a personal computer, notebook computer, server computer, mainframe, a network device such a...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

No PUM Login to View More

Abstract

A method and system for transferring licenses between electronic devices supporting licensable features. Specifically, in a method a request is generated for transferring a license between first and second electronic devices. The request includes first information unique to the first electronic device, second information unique to the second electronic device. The request is sent to a license distributor to generate a master key. The master key includes a removal key including the first information and an add key including the second information. The removal key is used to remove the license from the first electronic device when the first information matches official versions of the first information. The add key is revealed from the master key when the license is successfully removed. The add key is used to add the license to the second electronic device when the second information matches official versions of the second information.

Description

RELATED UNITED STATES PATENT APPLICATION[0001]This Application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 994,701, concurrently filed with the present Application on Nov. 18, 2004 entitled “Method and System for Installing Software and Hardware Feature Licenses on Devices”. To the extent not repeated herein, the contents of this related patent application are hereby incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of network connection management. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the transfer of software and hardware feature licenses between networking devices.RELATED ART[0003]Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology is used as a backbone technology for some modern carrier networks. ATM supports network transmission of information including data as well as real-time voice and video. In an ATM network multiple virtual channels are used to carry multiple data streams. As ...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & AuthorityPatents(United States)
IPC IPC(8): H04L9/08H04L9/14
CPCG06F21/10G06F21/105H04L9/08H04N21/2541H04L67/02H04N21/835H04N21/8355G06Q20/1235H04L9/083H04N21/25816G06F2221/0795G06F21/1088
InventorYELLAI, PRABHAKARA RAOVO, PHONG KYMANIAR, MIHIREGGEL, ERIC B.TRUONG, ALEX VAN
OwnerCISCO TECH INC